Economist Rodrigo Manuel Ferreira Brum will take on the role of Deputy Secretary-General of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macau) at the suggestion of Portugal, the Consul General of Portugal in Macau said on Friday.

The Consul General Vítor Sereno also said the delegate of the Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade of Portugal in Macau, Maria João Bonifácio, will be the new delegate for Portugal at Forum Macau, replacing him in the role.

Forum Macau Forum is headed by Secretary-General Xu Yinzhen, of China’s Ministry of Commerce and has three deputy secretaries general: diplomats Ding Tian, appointed by China and Vicente Manuel by the seven Portuguese-speaking countries represented at the Forum (Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and Timor-Leste) and Echo Chan appointed by the Macau government.

Sao Tome and Principe, which re-established diplomatic relations with China in December 2016, should become part of Forum Macau in the coming months.

Rodrigo Brum, who held office in the Macau government in the 1990s in the area of the economy, will replace Mozambique’s Vicente de Jesus Manuel who has been in the role since 2013.

Brum was born in Mozambique in 1957, has a degree in Organization and Management from the School of Economics of the Technical University of Lisbon, served as a member of the board of the national mint Imprensa Nacional – Casa da Moeda in Lisbon and later as manager of the Management Authority of the Sea 2020 Operational Programme in Portugal.

Forum Macau, based in the Macau Special Administrative Region, was created in October 2003 by China under the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, with the aim of making the territory a platform for strengthening economic and trade cooperation with the Portuguese-speaking countries. (macauhub)